“Absolutely. You hired me to do a job, Ms. Hughes, and now you seem determined to thwart me. I can’t let that happen. Your life and my reputation are on the line. I’ll stay with the girls. You go with the sheriff.”
“I’m supposed to be the boss.”
“You are. But we either do this my way or I walk. No compromises.” His blue eyes were cold with determination, his lantern jaw set.
Jenna’s blood was boiling, but she managed to hold her tongue. “All right. Tonight we’ll do it this way, but in the future, we’ll discuss any plans for outings until this thing is over.”
“Fine with me.”
The phone rang and Allie ran for it. “Wait. Don’t answer,” Jenna reminded her, and the message machine clicked on. There was giggling and then a naughty little voice saying, “Hey, Allie, I heard your mom got the finger!” Click!
Allie was stunned. “Who would do that?”
“Some little prick. Don’t worry about it,” Cassie said and scraped her chair back. “Whoever called has a brain the size of a pea and a dick that’s even smaller. The only thing he’s got that’s big is his mouth!”
“Cassie!” Jenna said, but let out a laugh and Allie giggled.
Turnquist turned several shades of red and excused himself.
Jenna had no recourse but to accept a ride with the sheriff. She only hoped he had the good sense not to bring the snapshots of his wife along.
“Okay, let’s get one thing straight,” Jenna said as he held the door open for her and she hoisted herself into his Blazer. “This wasn’t my idea. I could have driven myself into town but Jake wouldn’t hear of it. So, whether we like it or not, we’re stuck with each other for the next couple of hours.”
“I’ll try to survive,” he said dryly and was rewarded with a stare meant to cut through steel. He slammed the door shut and walked through the cutting wind to the driver’s side. Once he’d started the car and they were easing out of the gate that Turnquist had opened, he said, “You know, I think we should both lighten up. It’ll make the night a lot more enjoyable.”
“Okay.” She nodded slowly as if to convince herself as he flipped on the wipers. “But I think I should explain about last night.”
“Is there something to explain?”
“Yeah, I think there is. I know that you probably think everyone from L.A. is ultra-hip and sexually free and sleeps around.”
“That’s not what I think at all.”
“And that’s not what I do, either.” She looked out the side window and scraped at the moisture collecting on the inside with a fingernail. Though her face was turned away from him, he caught a glimpse of her profile and noticed the corners of her mouth had pulled into a thoughtful frown. “I’m not all that sexually liberated and so…so last night…well, I should have insisted upon protection.”
His hands tightened over the wheel. “Is that what you’re worried about? Pregnancy?”
“Yeah, to begin with. I mean, I can’t believe I lost my head like that. After all the lectures to Cassie and then I…I…oh, well, you know what happened. You were there.”
“I was as much at fault as you.”
“At fault. What a nice, romantic way of putting it.”
“I didn’t know there was romance involved,” he said and noticed the little knot of wrinkles between her eyebrows.
“There wasn’t. I just meant we should at least be kind to each other.”
“I’d like that.” He slowed for a corner and through the snow saw the lights of the town winking in the foothills. “Just for the record. I’m not hip and sexually free and I don’t sleep around, either. At least not for a long, long time. As a horny teenager, I looked at things differently. So let’s not worry too much about anything other than keeping you safe and catching the guy who’s terrorizing you. One step at a time. Deal?”
She let out a long breath. “Deal.”
“So the next problem is Rinda. She’s not too happy with me right now. Thinks I’m harassing her brother and suspicious of her son.”
“Are you?”
His lips pulled into a smile. “I wouldn’t call it harassing. And I’m suspicious of everyone. Scott qualifies. But his mother thinks I’m overzealous.”
They drove into town and he parked a couple of streets away from the coffee shop, but not before he noticed the television vans parked near the First Methodist Church and the crowd of townspeople collecting and milling near the church’s steps. So much for his sleepy little town.